All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 58, Issue No. 6 • June 2019
Inside This Issue
Earth Matters: It’s Time To Improve Air Quality, Starting With Suncorp Refinery North Of Park Hill
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Studies Show Students Benefit From Tolerance and Cross-Cultural Understanding, Yet Denver Schools More Segregated Than Ever
Is It Spring Yet? Let’s Ask Robin
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Landmark Court Case At 65 Years
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Brown v. Board Of Education
East’s Constitutional Law Team Wins The National Championship
By Laura Lefkowits
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For the GPHN
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2019 Garden Walk Danielle Young gardening with her kids, as well as a niece and nephew, playing in the pool in the background. Young’s garden is one of seven featured in this year’s Park Hill Garden Walk, on Sunday, June 23. Check out pages 14 and 15 for all the information you need to see some of the neighborhood’s most entertaining and beautiful gardens. Photo courtesy of Danielle Young
Time To Party! Time To Parade! volunteers, the parade has grown from an informal gathering of kids on bicycles to a rollicking party of thousands, cheering on participants who come by foot, on floats, on motorcycles, in cars, trucks and golf carts. This year Bresler is offering a challenge to individual blocks to band together, create floats, and show off their most creative efforts. If organizers get enough float entries, a winner will be crowned Best Parade Entry for 2019 and take home a trophy worthy of our ‘hood. Bresler is also still on the lookout for marching bands. Dust off your instruments, call a few friends and get the band back together. Bands, floats, and all other entries can still register online at parkhillparade.org. For ideas, check out photos from past parades at Facebook.com/ParkHillParade. If you are interested in sponsorship possibilities, contact Bresler at parkhillparade@gmail.com or at 303-918-6517. Ditto if you are interested in helping out before, during and after the parade this year – including setting up, registration, being a course marshal and tearing down afterwards.
Park Hill 4th of July Parade. File photo courtesy of Justin Bresler
This year marks some important milestones in Park Hill, and the neighborhood is gearing up to do it up right this summer.
Park Hill Parade Turns 10 The 10th Annual Park Hill 4th of July Parade kicks off at 1:30 p.m. on Independence Day. As it does every year, the parade route stretches along 23rd Avenue for 13 blocks from Dexter to Kearney streets. Under the leadership of Justin Bresler and many
GPHC Turns 50
Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., turns 50 years old this summer. On Saturday, June 1, the Registered Neighborhood Organization is throwing an enormous block party to celebrate the milestone. Neighbors from across Park Hill and beyond are invited to the free celebration, for food, drinks, history and fun. The party is on Fairfax Street between 28th and 29th Avenues, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be food trucks, drinks, activities for kids, a silent auction, and a special historical showcase including a video celebrating some of Park Hill’s long- time residents. Everyone is welcome.
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Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring the doctrine of “separate but equal” unconstitutional, turns 65 this year. Denver’s own desegregation case, Keyes v. School District No. 1, turns 46. While these court cases were hailed as the beginning of the end of state-sanctioned discrimination of students of color, court-ordered desegregation was highly unpopular and white flight was rampant. In Denver, 30,000 mostly white students fled the district in the first decade of busing. And yet, longitudinal research studies
Stedman’s Principal Michael Atkins Returns In Style
High School Sports Roundup, Plus East’s Arria Minor’s Superstar Finish
Upcoming GPHC Meetings Thursday, June 6 at 2823 Fairfax St. at 6:30 p.m. There is no meeting in July. August meeting is Aug. 1 All are welcome to attend.
Denver Election 2019
Just Vote, Again
Hancock and Giellis Face Off For Mayor On June 4, Other Critical Races Include Clerk & Recorder By Cara DeGette Editor, GPHN
Rinse and repeat. Last month’s citywide election was decisive in several ways. Incumbent City Councilman Chris Herndon, who represents District 8, fended off five challengers to win a third, and final term in office. Hendon won with 51.3 percent of the vote. District 8 includes Park Hill, Stapleton, East Colfax and Montbello. Initiative 300, the Right to Rest, got creamed, with more than 81 percent voting against. Initiative 301, the psilocybin mushroom measure, passed with nearly 51 percent of the vote, making Denver the first city in the country to decriminalize magic mushrooms. Citywide, five incumbent city councilmembers didn’t clear 50 percent of the vote, meaning they will face challengers in the Tuesday, June 4 runoff election. In Park Hill, voters will have several choices, including their choice for mayor of Denver. Here’s what’s at stake: Mayor: Incumbent Mayor Michael B. Hancock received just shy of 40 percent of the vote in May. He faces Jamie Giellis, a former president of the RiNo Art District, who came in second with about 25 percent of the vote. City Clerk & Recorder: Current City Councilman Paul Lopez received 36.2 percent of the vote in May. Voters will decide between Lopez and Public Interest Attorney Peg Perl, who won 32.6 percent of the vote. Initiative 302: Let Denver Vote: This measure would prohibit using public money being spent on any future efforts to bring the Olympics to Denver, without first obtaining voter approval in a special election. Ballots were mailed to all registered voters on Monday, May 20. They must be returned by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4. If you still have your ballot sitting on the counter, don’t risk popping it in the mail at this late date. Instead, fill it out, and drop it off at one of many nearby voter locations. Check out the website DenverDecides.org for info on where to drop off ballots – or where to vote in person if you prefer that method. Didn’t get a ballot? Or did you accidentally spill coffee, or maybe a dark beer on it? Not to worry. Stop by Denver election headquarters downtown at 200 W. 14th Ave. for a replacement.